Tuesday, January 3, 2017

City Hall quiz: Little Rock Airport Commission

For reasons never wholly clear to me, an appointment to the Little Rock Airport Commission has always been among the most coveted plums in city government. There's no pay. You do get a nice parking spot at the Clinton National Airport and occasional commission-related travel.

It's time for Mayor Mark Stodola to fill another opening, with the expiration of Virgil Miller's term. Friday was the deadline for applications. I provide the names of those who applied and you tell me the mayor's pick (and why). A confirmation vote by the City Board is not yet set, but it won't be tonight.

PS: For Sen. Jason Rapert to get the legislature to strip the Clinton name from the airport, as he's proposed, he'd have to pass legislation stripping the city of governance of the facility (something that has been threatened by other political players for other reasons at various times). But that's down the line.

The other six commissioners are Jim Dailey, Stacy Hurst, Meredith Catlett, Jesse Mason, John Rutledge and Gus Vratsinas (two women and one black after Miller's departure, if you count those sorts of things.)

An Arkansas anti-abortion law is a phony. It's about ending abortion, not protecting women and a New York Times writer says it could present an important case for the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Donald Trump gave a remarkable interview to the New York Times yesterday in which he declared open season on the marriage of Bill and Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton's past infidelity. Seems like a loser, but I've been wrong before.

The State Police say Brett McCullough, 52, of Hot Springs, was killed by a hit-and-run driver while riding a bicycle about 8:47 p.m. Wednesday on Highway 70 West (Airport Road) in Hot Springs.

Arkansas Court of Appeals Judge Bart Virden of Morrilton, who narrowly survived attack ads by an outside partisan group supporting his opponent for re-election to a nonpartisan seat, doesn't intend to let the matter drop.

KFSM reports that the Benton County Election Commission will recount votes today in two squeaky state House races where incumbents are currently on top by scant margins.

The Arkansas Supreme Court continues to grapple, with divisions, on how to square new federal and state law on resentencing people who got life without parole sentences for capital crimes committed when they were minors.

Enjoy these photos from today's dedication and re-installation of a new Ten Commandments monument. The first iteration of the monument was installed last June but destroyed within the next 24 hours when it was rammed by a man in a Dodge Dart.